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I work on vaccines, mostly non branded stuff to educate people on the diseases they can prevent, and I absolutely believe in them. There are many more wellness brands, too. Pharma is tough but it's clear how ignorant about it many who've never worked on it are...
Wait. You guys don’t save lives because you advertise pills that potentially cure cancer. People who created these pills potentially do. Doctors potentially do. Doctors don’t study advertising to know what to do.
After a few years years in consumer, Cannes Lions etc I got bored pushing so much stuff we don't need and thought I'd switch to pharma to see what it was all about. (Still no idea who does the Cialis ads but hey, they got us all asking what's with the freaking 2 bathtubs, right?). Very interesting developments in immuno-oncology, genomics and smart viruses. And med tech. Target those areas. One day you may be thankful to big pharma for giving you a couple of extra quality years like my dad, who died of lung cancer. And he may not have gotten that drug if an ad in a journal hadn't reminded his busy oncologist about it. End of the day it's all problem solving. In pharma it's just that much harder. Switch if you like a new challenge that's very well paid. Face it , it has to be!
^actually 'pharma' agencies have clients like l General Mills, charities, toothpaste, weight watchers, fitness tech etc.. More than you care to realise with smart clients that embrace change.
2x-3x. Been working for 15 yrs and have had pharma gigs in the past at multiple agencies. It’s soul-crushing shit work. Zero portfolio potential. Embarrassing really. But I’d do it again temporarily for 2x the money, because hey, money.
All the creatives who hate pharma make working in pharma so much better. I miss traditional clients sometimes but not enough to go back.
The ethical issue being it's ok to sell soft drinks that cause cancer but not help people fight cancer with pills @group planning director
GCD what percentage of no pharma advertising would you say is pollution? Point being, the majority of advertising is flat out terrible pollution. But for pharma you all only see the heinous, formulaic TV spots which actually only represent 25% of the work.
Beyond the lack of creativity/portfolio potential, having to read & write about all those symptoms, side effects, and disease states for every age patient from little kids to senior citizens — over and over, every day — left me emotionally destroyed.
CA1 calls cereal clients lame then says General Mills is a pharma client then says other people here aren't smart. Okay. 😂
I think there's an agency or two doing some cool shit in the pharma space. I would say at least $20k more than your salary is what you'll get. For me if I believed in the brand and knew the clients were open, and had a killer team to work with, it wouldn't take me much to switch over. I mean it's a new challenge, and as someone else mentioned a way to learn more about science and technology. Win win in life terms imo.
Feeling mildly lethargic? Take these pills. Side effects include aching joints, diarrhoea, dry mouth, breathlessness, bleeding from the eyeballs, collapsed lungs, rotting nipples, crippling addiction, family breakdown and a catastrophic national healthcare crisis.
GCD you clearly don't understand how our business works and I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain it.
FCB1, I know what you are trying to explain (or not explain as you mentioned) You meant there’s a portion of pharma work that isn’t pollution and quite creative. I get that. I judged that work at Cannes a couple of times (not pharma festival itself but pharma sub-categories in regular festival). Who knows I maybe even gave you a lion or two. But you’d probably agree that it’s an exception in a business designed to sell chemical pills to people. And honestly the creativity level of the few creative campaigns isnt as high as other industries such as entertainment (for instance). So let’s come back to the question that’s been asked: Would you go in pharma advertising for more money?
My personal answer to that is a polite No thanks.
1/for a massive majority of briefs there’s a very limited creativity compared to more general advertising agencies that btw have the most creative pharma accounts (not the “pills ones” but for instance “tech that can improve lives”or “organic food” etc. If you disagree pls explain why we don’t see see a single pharma agency among the most awarded agencies?
2/ why limiting yourself to one industry when you can potentially work for all of them?
3/ Pharma creatives aren’t paid more than regular creatives. Quite the opposite.
NB/Answering your previous question that I discover now: most of regular advertising is also pollution. Everyone agrees with you. But they don’t oversell chemical things to sick people who don’t have the ability to know if it’s good for their health or not.
Anyway, in the context of the question that has been asked, it feels obvious to me that there is way more creative opportunities in regular agencies than specialized agencies. Which also means more money because we all know that most creative folios get all the $$.
I do respect the good work I have no doubt you do and I understand that you defend this good work. But facts are facts. Best pharma work isnt made out of pharma agencies like best media/PR work isnt made by media/PR agencies. (There’s reasons for that but that’s another subject). Thanks FCB1 for sharing your POV. Hope mine is interesting to think about as well. Have a great w-end.
GCD1, thanks for a coherent and meaningful layout of your opinion. Your gripe seems to be a tired old fake outrage at morals I'm sure you can find a way to violate through any and all advertising which thrives in and promotes consumerism of epic proportion. We're all part of it and pitting one category or industry against another is meaningless. Doing a lesser evil is a fallacy - evil is evil. I'd have more respect for those who straight up stand for what they do and believe in it/like doing it than those who claim to be in any position of moral superiority in ADVERTISING! Specifically about pharma advertising DTC of prescription drugs in the U.S., I agree that's messed up and there's a reason why it's banned anywhere else in the world. The fact it's not here is not a problem for ad agencies to solve but for society and government. If the U.S. had a moral issue with it, then they can work on banning it. I don't see that happening in the "land if the free"..
I’d be down when I have kids and want to go on vacations. Easily.
AD1. I respect your opinion but I disagree. I wouldn’t work for the pharma companies that don’t feel right to me, as I wouldn’t work for the gun industry (I believe another controversial topic). And yes I think some industries or more precisely companies (or gov organizations) aren’t aligned with my values and I will always refuse to work on these briefs. Now it moves the conversation to another chapter. I’ve been lucky to work with great mentors and lucky to learn from them and eventually do good campaigns which gives me the luxury to work on what I want and it’s obviously not the case for everyone. I understand some people “have to” do it, at least for a period of time. And that’s where the conversation really was. We aren’t debating if advertising is “evil” or not as a whole. (It’s obviously not. It all depends on what we promote and how we do it).
PS: It is absolutely the role of companies -especially ad agency and media companies- to help affect what society and government do. You have probably seen anti cigarettes campaigns, gun control promotion, political party promotion, etc. Not mentioning executives directly involved in lobbying of different kinds.
Last think, this conversation would be much more interesting with a beer on a rooftop.
I work in pharma. Not so certain that the pay is any better than what other ADs in my agency who don't work on a pharma client make.
@cw2 not enough to be worth it.
Also, at least at the (very large multinational network agency) I am currently at, they always put the oldest, slowest people on the pharma briefs. Like, whoever is kind of on their way out anyway. I’m old too, but they know I would never...
PM1 the point is that mainstream consumer brands work with 'pharma' agencies, but they aren't making Lucky Charms commercials.
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